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If you build on someone else's platform, the best case is you get to be a sharecropper and can make money as long as you don't make so much that your platform-b
by _jal 8y ago
If you build on someone else's platform, the best case is you get to be a sharecropper and can make money as long as you don't make so much that your platform-betters get jealous.
The more typical case is this, where you get to spend your time and money doing real-world R&D and discovery of what works for them, for free.
If you're going to dance with a vampire, don't be surprised when it bites you.
- pm90 8y ago> If you build on someone else's platform, But isn't that the height of specialization? What does a platform mean anyways if its only used for one thing and not by others? It it somewhat unfortunate that things like this make it abundantly clear that such a reality is not possible.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoPlatform is nothing but a sales&marketing word. It means whatever the owner wants it to.
- mcny 8y agoGoogle positions angular as a platform.
- feanaro 8y agoIt is possible. We just have to prioritize open standards much more than we have been doing in the last decade. History really repeats itself in this regard. First we get ourselves in a tight situation with lots of closed platforms, which is bad for everyone. Then someone comes along, spouting a new philosophy of openness (Stallman comes to mind). The philosophy takes hold and open technology flourishes for a while. But then a huge corporation appears, offering to contribute to this new abundant ecosystem with great new things. By now, people are too relaxed and optimistic, so they readily accept this. Yet, little by little, the corporation exploits this, seizing more and more control, until we get right back where we started.
- krisgenre 8y agoOne way or the other aren't most of us building for someone else's platform anyway?. Mobile, desktop, browser...
- sokoloff 8y agoYou can build alongside someone else's long-term demonstrated strategy (developing Microsoft desktop software) much more securely than developing a feature in someone else's closed garden. You can also spread your footprint. As just an easy-to-discuss example, Facebook and Twitter develop for many different someone else's platforms, by supporting multiple browsers [who in turn support multiple OSs], multiple mobile platforms, etc.
- loudmax 8y agoDeveloping Microsoft desktop software you're still building on someone else's platform and hoping they don't decide to alter the terms of the deal. Microsoft may be more forward thinking than Google, but companies change.
- sokoloff 8y agoAbsolutely. That risk is much lower than developing for the Alexa, Nest, Twitter, etc platforms. At some point, you’re forced to build on someone else’s platform(s), even if that platform is “Intel” or “AWS” as no one is doing the entire end-to-end value chain.
- loudmax 8y agoOr build on an open an open source stack. Don't like Intel? Switch to AMD. Don't like AWS? Switch to another cloud. Proprietary platforms lure developers to their stack by making development easy. Learning an open source is typically more difficult, but the reward is greater freedom. Believing you're forced to build on proprietary technology is a fallacy.
- 8y ago